Bandwidth adaptive communication event scheduling

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the disclosure relate to a bandwidth adaptive communication event scheduling system. The system can provide an availability recommendation for a communication event based on bandwidth usage. A user can request to schedule a communication event at a future time based on the availability recommendation, and the system can determine whether to approve or deny the request based the details of the request and predicted or real-time bandwidth usage.

BACKGROUND

With the advent of computer networks and the internet, many traditionalforms of communication can take place over computer networks and theinternet including written, audio, and visual forms of communication. Inorder for the communication to occur, bandwidth is needed to transfercommunication data from the source to its destination. Because someforms of communication and other network activities may be morebandwidth intensive than others, it may be difficult for all datatraffic to be transmitted in a timely manner over a communicationnetwork when too many bandwidth intensive activities are occurring atthe same time.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects of the disclosure. The summary is not anextensive overview of the disclosure. It is neither intended to identifykey or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope ofthe disclosure. The following summary merely presents some concepts ofthe disclosure in a simplified form as a prelude to the descriptionbelow.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to methods, apparatuses, andnon-transitory computer-readable media of the bandwidth adaptivecommunication event scheduling system. The bandwidth adaptivecommunication event scheduling system enables the management ofcommunication event activities (e.g., video conferences) acrossnetworks. A first computing device may determine an availabilityrecommendation for a plurality of time periods for a communication eventbased on scheduled communication events of other users. A request toinitiate scheduling of a communication event between a first user of asecond computing device and a second user may be received from thesecond computing device. The availability recommendation may betransmitted to the second computing device in response to the request. Arequest to schedule a communication event between the first user and thesecond user based on the availability recommendation may be receivedfrom the second computing device, and the request may includecommunication event information. The first computing device candetermine whether to approve scheduling of the communication event basedon the communication event information, network conditions, and thescheduled communication events of other users. In response todetermining to approve scheduling of the communication event based onthe communication event information, an indication that scheduling ofthe communication event is approved may be provided to the secondcomputing device.

In some aspects, the availability recommendation may be provided to theuser in the form of a calendar with labels for time periods in whichvideo conferencing is still available and for time periods in whichvideo conferencing is no longer available. In yet another aspect, adashboard containing real-time availability information for videoconferencing may be provided. From the dashboard, a user may be able toobserve real-time availability and directly schedule or reservebandwidth for a real-time video conference if real-time capacity isavailable.

In some aspects, a user such as a system administrator may access anadministration console to configure settings for bandwidth allocated tovideo conference traffic and non-video conference traffic.

Of course, the methods and systems of the above-referenced embodimentsmay also include other additional elements, steps, computer-executableinstructions, or computer-readable data structures. In this regard,other embodiments are disclosed and claimed herein as well. The detailsof these and other embodiments of the present invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages of the invention will be apparent from the description,drawings, and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitedin the accompanying figures in which like reference numerals indicatesimilar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment in which variousaspects of the disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative block diagram of workstations and servers thatmay be used to implement the processes and functions of certain aspectsof the present disclosure according to one or more aspects describedherein.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative system diagram according to aspects describedherein.

FIG. 4 is an illustrative method of scheduling a communication eventbased on bandwidth capacity availability according to aspects describedherein.

FIGS. 5A-5B is an illustrative method for determining whether to approvea request to schedule a communication event and update an availabilityrecommendation according to aspects described herein.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative workstation desktop including a videoconference scheduling request and a real-time video conference statusdashboard according to aspects described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of various illustrative embodiments,reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a parthereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, variousembodiments in which the claimed subject matter may be practiced. It isto be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and thatstructural and functional modifications may be made, without departingfrom the scope of the present claimed subject matter.

It is noted that various connections between elements are discussed inthe following description. It is noted that these connections aregeneral and, unless specified otherwise, may be direct or indirect,wired or wireless, and that the specification is not intended to belimiting in this respect.

Aspects described herein relate to a system that schedules acommunication event (e.g., video conference or chat) based on networkconditions such as available bandwidth and various other parameters inorder to protect the network from being overwhelmed with concurrentvideo conferences and to dedicate a portion of the bandwidth for corefunctions (e.g., non-video conference traffic). Aspects described hereinfurther enable bandwidth management of different types of traffic andincrease the ease of scheduling a communication event and the servicequality of the communication event.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative operating environment in which variousaspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance withone or more example embodiments. Referring to FIG. 1, computing systemenvironment 100 may be used according to one or more illustrativeembodiments. Computing system environment 100 is only one example of asuitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality contained in thedisclosure. Computing system environment 100 should not be interpretedas having any dependency or requirement relating to any one orcombination of components shown in illustrative computing systemenvironment 100.

Computing system environment 100 may include computing device 101 havingprocessor 103 for controlling overall operation of computing device 101and its associated components, including random-access memory (RAM) 105,read-only memory (ROM) 107, communications module 109, and memory 115.Computing device 101 may include a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media may be any available media that may be accessedby computing device 101, may be non-transitory, and may include volatileand nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in anymethod or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, object code, data structures, programmodules, or other data. Examples of computer readable media may includerandom access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electronicallyerasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or othermemory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium that can be used to store the desired informationand that can be accessed by computing device 101.

Although not required, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a data processing system, or as a computer-readable mediumstoring computer-executable instructions. For example, acomputer-readable medium storing instructions to cause a processor toperform steps of a method in accordance with aspects of the disclosedarrangements is contemplated. For example, aspects of the method stepsdisclosed herein may be executed on a processor on computing device 101.Such a processor may execute computer-executable instructions stored ona computer-readable medium.

Software may be stored within memory 115 and/or storage to provideinstructions to processor 103 for enabling computing device 101 toperform various functions. For example, memory 115 may store softwareused by computing device 101, such as operating system 117, applicationprograms 119, and associated database 121. Also, some or all of thecomputer executable instructions for computing device 101 may beembodied in hardware or firmware. Although not shown, RAM 105 mayinclude one or more applications representing the application datastored in RAM 105 while computing device 101 is on and correspondingsoftware applications (e.g., software tasks), are running on computingdevice 101.

Communications module 109 may include a microphone, keypad, touchscreen, and/or stylus through which a user of computing device 101 mayprovide input, and may also include one or more of a speaker forproviding audio output and a video display device for providing textual,audiovisual and/or graphical output. Computing system environment 100may also include optical scanners (not shown). Exemplary usages includescanning and converting paper documents, e.g., correspondence, receipts,and the like, to digital files.

Computing device 101 may operate in a networked environment supportingconnections to one or more remote computing devices, such as computingdevices 141 and 151. Computing devices 141 and 151 may be personalcomputing devices or servers that include any or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to computing device 101. Computing devices 141or 151 may be a mobile device (e.g., smart phone) communicating over awireless carrier channel.

The network connections depicted in FIG. 1 may include local areanetwork (LAN) 125 and wide area network (WAN) 129, as well as othernetworks. When used in a LAN networking environment, computing device101 may be connected to LAN 125 through a network interface or adapterin communications module 109. When used in a WAN networking environment,computing device 101 may include a modem in communications module 109 orother means for establishing communications over WAN 129, such asInternet 131 or other type of computer network. The network connectionsshown are illustrative and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computing devices may be used. Various well-knownprotocols such as transmission control protocol/Internet protocol(TCP/IP), Ethernet, file transfer protocol (FTP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP) and the like may be used, and the system can be operatedin a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pagesfrom a web-based server. Any of various conventional web browsers can beused to display and manipulate data on web pages.

The disclosure is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the disclosedembodiments include, but are not limited to, personal computers (PCs),server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, smart phones,multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes,programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, distributed computing environments that include any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative block diagram of workstations and serversthat may be used to implement the processes and functions of certainaspects of the present disclosure in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments. Referring to FIG. 2, illustrative system 200 may be usedfor implementing example embodiments according to the presentdisclosure. As illustrated, system 200 may include one or moreworkstation computers 201. Workstation 201 may be, for example, adesktop computer, a smartphone, a wireless device, a tablet computer, alaptop computer, and the like. Workstations 201 may be local or remote,and may be connected by one of communications links 202 to computernetwork 203 that is linked via communications link 205 to server 204. Insystem 200, server 204 may be any suitable server, processor, computer,or data processing device, or combination of the same. Server 204 may beused to process the instructions received from, and the transactionsentered into by, one or more participants.

Computer network 203 may be any suitable computer network including theInternet, an intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), a local-area network(LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, aframe relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, avirtual private network (VPN), or any combination of any of the same.Communications links 202 and 205 may be any communications linkssuitable for communicating between workstations 201 and server 204 (e.g.network control center), such as network links, dial-up links, wirelesslinks, hard-wired links, as well as network types developed in thefuture, and the like. A virtual machine may be a software implementationof a computer that executes computer programs as if it were a standalonephysical machine.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative bandwidth adaptive communication eventscheduling system 300 including workstations 302, a schedule server 304,a master video controller 306, and an administration console 308. Thecommunication event may be a video conference or chat which may involvean audiovisual communication between two or more users with at least twocomputing devices acting as sources of audiovisual communication data.Workstations 302 may be computing devices (e.g., a desktop computer, asmartphone, a wireless device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, andthe like) with a camera sensor which can be used to participate in videochats or conferences. Workstations 302 may be used by users to accessthe schedule server 304 and/or master video controller 306 to schedulecommunication events. For example, the video conference may be scheduledto occur at a future time as a meeting or appointment between two ormore users or the video conference may be real-time video conference.The video conference availability may be presented as the scheduleavailability of a person or user in the system, and the meeting may bescheduled based on the availability of one or more of the users and thevideo conference user. The schedule server 304 may provide informationabout availability for a communication event meeting based on theavailability represented by the video conference user. For example, theschedule server 304 may be an e-mail and/or calendar server (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange server). Schedule server 304 may be connected tomaster video controller 306 which provides the availability of the videoconference user to schedule server 304. An example of a user interfacefor scheduling a video conference session is shown in and will bedescribed with respect to FIG. 6.

Master video controller 306 may determine availability for videoconferences based on a variety of factors. The factors may includereal-time bandwidth availability, master on/off switch, predictedbandwidth usage, minimum video quality, maintenance time blockage,maximum video conference bandwidth usage, number of allowed sessions,and segment prioritization, and data or information of the factors maybe provided by modules of master video controller 306. A real-timebandwidth verification module 310 may provide data or information oncurrent or real-time bandwidth usage including, for example, real-timevideo conference traffic, real-time core (non-video conference) traffic,and latency. The usage may be provided for an entire network and/orbroken down for different groups of workstations (e.g., workstationslocated at the same office location, workstations connected to the samenetwork or sub-network, workstations connected to the same router,workstations connected to the same access point). The trafficinformation may be provided in terms of percentages of total bandwidthcapacity. For example, 40% of the bandwidth usage for data traffic toand from workstations located at an office location out of the totalcapacity for the office location may be video conference traffic, and25% of the bandwidth usage for data traffic to and from the workstationsmay be core traffic. Core (non-video conference) traffic may be datatraffic related to general internet usage such as email messages, webbrowsing, accessing storage servers, instant messages, video streaming,etc.

A master on/off switch 312 may be used to disable the video conferencingsystem such that all active video conferences are disabled and no newvideo conferences are able to start.

A predicted bandwidth usage module 314 may determine whether videoconferencing is available based on scheduled video conferences of otherusers and data provided by other modules such as minimum video quality316, maximum video conference bandwidth usage 320, number of allowedconnections 322, and segment prioritization 324, and predicted bandwidthusage module 314 will be described in more detail herein with respect toFIG. 5A.

Minimum video quality module 316 may enable a user such as a systemadministrator to set or control the minimum video quality to be providedfor each video conference. For example, the administrator may set theminimum video quality to be standard definition (SD) for each videoconference connection or set the minimum video quality as a bit rate ofkilobits per second (kbps). A different minimum video quality may bespecified for each customer category (e.g., Level A, Level B, etc.) asdiscussed herein, for example, with respect to segment prioritization324. The administrator may further specify different minimum videoquality for different periods of time.

Maintenance time block module 318 may be used by a user such as thesystem administrator to disable or block video conferencing fordifferent time periods to allow for maintenance on the videoconferencing system. Maintenance time block module 318 may have asetting to only disable starting new video conference sessions duringthe blocked time period. In other words, ongoing or active videoconferences may continue to function whereas requests to start new videoconferences during the blocked time period may be denied. Maintenancetime block module 318 may be used to disable or block video conferencingfor different groups of users. For example, the maintenance time blockmay be set for all users located in a local area or at a local level(e.g., branch office) or in a particular geographic region or regionallevel (e.g., east coast, west coast, northeast, south, midwest, etc.).

Maximum video conference bandwidth usage 320 may define the maximumbandwidth over a network or a workstation group that can be used forvideo conferences. Maximum video conference bandwidth usage may bespecified in terms of percentages. A network may have a total availablebandwidth of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), and video conference may beallowed to use up to 30 Mbps. The system administrator may set themaximum video conference bandwidth usage to 30% or set it in terms ofdata rate at 30 Mbps. The system administrator may further specify ofthe 30% what percentage can be used for upload traffic (e.g., datatraffic from a workstation to a remote computing device) or downloadtraffic (e.g., data traffic from the remote computing device to theworkstation). The maximum bandwidth usage 320 may be different fordifferent periods of time. For example, peak core traffic may occur in agiven period of time (e.g., morning, afternoon, etc.), and a systemadministrator may reduce the maximum bandwidth usage and/or lower theminimum video quality to shift more bandwidth availability to coretraffic during the given period of time. The system administrator mayassign different maximum bandwidth usage for different groups of users.For example, a specified maximum bandwidth usage may apply to all userslocated in a local area or at a local level (e.g., branch office) or ina particular geographic region or at a regional level (e.g., east coast,west coast, northeast, south, midwest, etc.).

Number of allowed sessions module 322 may be used by the systemadministrator to set the number of concurrent video conference sessionsallowed during a certain time period. The number of allowed sessions maybe set per workstation group. For example, a first workstation group of45 workstations may be limited to 15 concurrent active video conferencesessions. In other words, up to 15 workstations out of the 45workstations can be participating in a video conference at any giventime. A 16th workstation might not be allowed to start a videoconference session while the 15 workstations are still in a videoconference session. In some instances, a scheduled video conference mayrun longer than the scheduled time period and another scheduled videoconference may be beginning such that 16 workstations would beparticipating in a video conference. In this instance, the 16thworkstation may be allowed to begin its previously scheduled videoconference session provided that the system can still maintain theminimum video quality for all video conferences, and the videoconference bandwidth usage can be below the maximum video conferencebandwidth usage 320. The system administrator may specify a differentnumber of allowed sessions for different groups of users. For example, aset number of allowed sessions may apply to all users located in a localarea or at a local level (e.g., branch office) or in a particulargeographic region or at a regional level (e.g., east coast, west coast,northeast, south, midwest, etc.).

Segment prioritization module 324 allows the system to prioritizeindividual video conference sessions based on the users participating inthe video conference. The user of scheduling system 300 may be videoconferencing with a customer of the user's organization. Based on thecustomer's priority category, the video conference session with thecustomer as a participant may be prioritized for quality. For example,the customer may be a VIP customer and categorized as a level Acustomer, or the customer may have purchased special access and becategorized as a level B customer. Level A may be the highest level, andfor the level A customer, an amount of bandwidth may be reserved orallocated to the video conference connection with the level A customerto ensure that the level A customer always receives the highestsupported video and audio quality, for example, high-definition (HD)video quality. The reserved or allocated bandwidth may be uploadbandwidth or bandwidth for data transmitted from the user to the level Acustomer. In setting up the video conference, the user may select thecustomer from a pre-loaded database which has already assigned apriority category to each customer, for example, when the customer signsup for service.

In some aspects, the system can adjust the quality of video for thevideo conference depending on the bandwidth available over theconnection. The bandwidth available may depend on traffic of other usersover the network and the type of network being used by all of thedevices participating in the video conference session. For example, oneof the users may be using a cellular network connection for videoconference which may have less bandwidth than a wireline networkconnection that the second user is using. The system can adjust to themore limiting network connection by providing a lower quality video. Inthe event more bandwidth becomes available, the system can increase thevideo quality.

A system administrator can access an administration console to configurethe settings of the master video controller 306. The systemadministrator can set the master on/off 312, minimum video quality 316,maintenance time block 318, maximum video conference bandwidth usage320, number of allowed sessions 322, and segment prioritization 324 viathe administration console. A local version of the administrationconsole may be provided to an administrator of a workstation group, forexample, the administrator of an office. Via the local administrationconsole, the administrator can configure some or all of the samesettings to be specific to the workstation group.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative method of scheduling a communication eventbased on bandwidth capacity availability 400 according to aspectsdescribed herein. At step 402, a user of a workstation may initiatecommunication event scheduling. For example, the user can begin bycreating a meeting or appointment request between the user and one ormore other users for a video conference. The user's workstation may senda request to retrieve or access an availability recommendation for videoconferencing, for example, by adding a video conference user to themeeting request. As discussed herein, the video conference user mightnot be an actual user but can represent resource availability for videoconferences. At step 404, the system may determine a preliminaryavailability and provide an availability recommendation for videoconferencing for a plurality of time periods. For example, master videocontroller 306 can provide an availability recommendation to scheduleserver 304. The availability recommendation may be based on anavailability stored in master video controller 306 and updatedperiodically or aperiodically (e.g., after each approved meetingrequest) as will be described herein with respect to FIG. 5B. The timeperiods may be in time increments of, for example, 1 hour, 30 minutes,15 minutes, etc. The availability may be shown in blocks of, forexample, 30 minutes of time.

At step 406, the workstation can receive the availability of the videoconferencing system for the user in response to the request and presentthe availability to the user. The availability may be presented to theuser in the form of a calendar with indicators or labels for varioustime periods in which the video conferencing system is unavailableand/or available, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 which will bedescribed in more detail herein. The availability recommendation maydepend on the user and the activities of other users in the user'sworkstation group and thus different availability recommendations may bepresented to different users. For example, different video conferenceusers may be associated with different workstation groups, and the videoconference user associated with the workstation group may represent theavailability of video conferencing to users of the workstation group.

Based on the presented availability recommendation, the user can selectopen or available time periods on the schedule of the video conferenceuser for the user's proposed video conference time. In some aspects, theavailability of the video conference user may be combined with theuser's availability such that any time period that the user isunavailable and/or the video conference user would be unavailable may beshown as unavailable on the user's schedule. The user can send a videoconference scheduling request to master video controller 306 to obtainapproval for scheduling a video conference during the requested timeperiod based on details of the video conference. The details of thevideo conference can, for example, at least include information aboutthe user initiating the video conference, the other participant(s) ofthe video conference, and the time and date of the proposed videoconference. The request may be received from the user's workstation atthe schedule server 304, and the schedule server 304 may send therequest to the master video controller 306 before confirming schedulingof the video conference to the user.

At step 410, master video controller 306 may determine whether toapprove the request which will be described in more detail with respectto FIG. 5A. At step 412, schedule server 304 may schedule the requestedvideo conference and transmit confirmation that the video conference hasbeen scheduled in response to receiving approval from master videocontroller 306. If master video controller denies the request in step410, schedule server 304 may transmit a message to the user notifyingthe user that the video conference request has been denied. The user canmodify the request to propose a different time and/or date for the videoconference and re-send the request. The re-sent request may be evaluatedaccording to steps 408-410.

FIGS. 5A-5B show an illustrative method for determining whether toapprove a request to schedule a communication event and update anavailability recommendation according to aspects described herein. Atstep 502, master video controller server 306 may evaluate the requestreceived from schedule server 304 with respect to whether videocommunication events are enabled or disabled for the requested timeperiod. Master video controller server 306 may base this evaluation onmaster on/off switch 312 and maintenance time block module 318. Forexample, master on/off switch 312 may have disabled video conferencingsuch that all requests received while the video conference system isdisabled are denied. If video conferencing is not disabled by masteron/off 312, master video controller 306 may determine whether amaintenance time block is present during the requested time period usingmaintenance time block module 318. Master video controller 306 maycompare the time period in the request with blocked time periods. If ablocked time period overlaps with the request time period, master videocontroller 306 may deny the request. For example, a maintenance timeblock may be present from 2 pm-4 pm and the request may be for a videoconference between 3:30 pm and 4:30 pm. Master controller 306 may denysuch a video conference request. According to another aspect, if therequested time period begins outside of the blocked time period, mastervideo controller 306 may allow the request even though the videoconference may be scheduled to end during the blocked time period. Forexample, if the last five minutes of the requested time period arescheduled to be within a maintenance time block, master video controllermay still allow the request. A setting may be present in the maintenancetime block module to allow requests with the last x number of minutesbeing within the maintenance time block.

At step 504, master video controller server 306 can determine whetherthe request is for a scheduled video conference. For example, for therequested time in the video conference request, the request may indicatereal-time or the current time for a real-time video conference andprovide a specific start time and end time in the future and/or a futuredate for a scheduled video conference. If the request is for a scheduledvideo conference, master video controller server 306 may proceed to step506. If the request is not for a scheduled video conference, the mastervideo controller 306 can determine that the request is for a real-timevideo conference and proceed to step 510.

At step 506, master video controller 306 may determine the predictedbandwidth usage and quality control parameters for the requested timeperiod. For example, master video controller 306 may use the number ofallowed sessions 322 to identify the number of allowed sessions set forthe requested time period and use minimum video quality 316 and maximumvideo conference bandwidth usage to, respectively, determine the minimumvideo quality and maximum video conference bandwidth usage set for therequested time period.

At step 508, master video controller 306 may determine whether futurecommunication capacity is available for the requested communicationevent. Predicted bandwidth usage module 314 can access video conferenceschedule data for the video conference user included in the request anddetermine the number of video conference sessions currently scheduledduring the requested time period based on the number of scheduledconferences in which the video conference user is a participant. Ifadding another video conference session anytime during the requestedtime period would not increase the number of concurrent or overlappingsessions beyond the number of allowed sessions 322, predicted bandwidthusage module 314 may evaluate whether allowing the requested videoconference would still allow the system 300 to meet the minimum videoquality and maximum video conference bandwidth usage requirements.Predicted bandwidth usage 314 can estimate the needed bandwidth for eachvideo conference session scheduled during the requested time period andfor the requested video conference session to meet the minimum videoquality set. The estimated bandwidth needed for the requested videoconference can take into account a larger amount of bandwidth beingneeded for a higher quality session with a prioritized user asdetermined by segment prioritization 324.

Based on the estimated total bandwidth needed for all of the scheduledvideo conference sessions and the requested video conference session,predicted bandwidth usage module 314 can compare the estimate to themaximum video conference bandwidth usage allowed during the requestedtime period. If the estimated total bandwidth needed is less than orequal to the maximum 320, then predicted bandwidth usage module 314 maydetermine that capacity is available for the requested video conference.If the estimated total bandwidth needed is more than the maximum 320,then predicted bandwidth usage module 314 can determine that capacity isnot available for the requested video conference.

If master video controller 306 determines that sufficient capacity isavailable for the requested communication event in step 508, mastervideo controller 306 can indicate to schedule server 304 that therequested video conference meeting is approved in step 514. If mastervideo controller 306 determines that there is insufficient capacity forthe requested communication event in step 514, master video controller306 can transmit a denial message to scheduling server 304 in step 516.

Returning to step 510 and determining whether to approve a request for areal-time video conference meeting, master video controller 306 candetermine real-time bandwidth usage and current quality controlparameters. At step 512, master video controller 306 can determinewhether the number of allowed sessions allows for starting a real-timevideo conference and determine real-time bandwidth usage with real-timebandwidth verification 310 and estimate bandwidth required for therequested real-time video conference. For determining whether the numberof allowed sessions allows for starting a real-time video conference,master video controller 306 can consider any scheduled video conferenceswhich may be beginning within a predetermined time window (e.g., 5minutes, 10 minutes, etc.) from the current time. For example, thenumber of allowed sessions may allow five concurrent video conferences,and currently, four video conferences may be active with anotherscheduled video conference due to start in 10 minutes. Even though thecurrent number of active video conferences is below the number ofallowed sessions, master video controller 306 may deny the real-timevideo request.

Continuing with evaluating whether real-time bandwidth capacity isavailable, similar to step 508, master video controller 306 can comparea total of the real-time bandwidth usage and the estimated bandwidthrequired for the requested real-time video conference to the maximumbandwidth usage allowed for the current time period. If the totalexceeds the maximum bandwidth usage allowed, then master videocontroller may determine that capacity is not available for therequested real-time video conference and proceed to step 516 to deny therequest. If the total does not exceed the maximum bandwidth usageallowed, then master video controller may determine that capacity isavailable for the real-time video conference and proceed to step 514 toapprove the request.

If the video conference request is approved in step 514, master videocontroller 306 may proceed to step 518 shown in FIG. 5B and determinewhether to update the availability recommendation for the requested timeperiod. For example, if the addition of another video conference duringthe requested time period would increase a total number of videoconference sessions to be more than the number of allowed sessions, thetime period in which the number of allowed sessions would be exceededmay be changed to be unavailable for the video conference user.Similarly, if the addition of another video conference during therequested time period would cause the system to be unable to meetminimum video quality requirements for the already scheduled videoconferences or if the addition of another video conference would causethe system to exceed the maximum bandwidth usage, master videocontroller 306 may change the time periods in which these occur tounavailable for the video conference user. If master video controller306 determines in step 518 that the availability for the videoconference user for any time periods should be changed, master videocontroller may proceed to step 520 and update the availability. If nochanges should be made, master video controller may proceed to step 522and maintain the current availability schedule.

Additionally, if master video controller receives a cancellation of ascheduled video conference, master video controller may change any timeperiods during the cancelled video conference which were unavailable toavailable.

In some aspects, master video controller 306 may continuously monitorwhether capacity is available and provide the availability informationto the user in form of a real-time availability dashboard. Via theavailability dashboard, the user may initiate setting up a real-timevideo conference. For example, via real-time bandwidth verificationmodule, master controller 306 can monitor real-time video conferencebandwidth usage and compare the real-time bandwidth usage to the videoconference bandwidth parameters such as the maximum video conferencebandwidth usage 320 and number of allowed connections. If theseparameters are exceeded, master video controller can determine thatcapacity for a real-time video conference is no longer available.

While the steps of the methods described herein have been described inan order, the order of the steps are illustrative, and the steps may bere-arranged and performed in a different order.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative workstation desktop 600 including a videoconference scheduling request 602 and a real-time video conferencestatus dashboard 604 according to aspects described herein. FIG. 6 showsscheduling request 602 for a video conference between user 1 and user 2with the request being scheduled and initiated by user 1. User 1 may bepart of workgroup 1, and the video conference user for workgroup 1VC-WORKGROUP1 is included on the participant list to show the videoconferencing availability recommended for the workstation groupincluding user 1 which may be all workstations at the same location.Unavailability indicator 606 may be in the form of a shading on the timeperiods in which video conferencing is not recommended or unavailable.For example, FIG. 6 shows video conference user for workgroup 1VC-WORKGROUP1 as being unavailable between 4-5 pm on Thursday, Nov. 6,2014 and between 10:30-11:30 am on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014. All usersincluding user VC-WORKGROUP1 are available between 10-10:30 am onFriday, Nov. 7, 2014. As shown in FIG. 6, the user has selected 10-10:30am on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 for the proposed video conference time whichmay be represented by a time selection indicator 608 having a shading(e.g., pattern and/or color) different than the shading 606. In FIG. 6,an example shading is shown as stripes. After the user is satisfied withtime and users selected for the scheduling request, the user can sendthe request to schedule server 304 by selecting a “SEND” button 609.

According to another aspect, the user may specify that the meeting to bescheduled is for a video conference, and the system may combine orincorporate the availability of the video conference user into therequesting user's meeting availability. For example, for any timeperiods that the requesting user User 1 is unavailable and/or the videoconference user is unavailable those time periods may appear asunavailable on User 1's availability schedule. In this aspect, user 1and user 2 may be listed as participants on the scheduling requestwithout the video conference user being separately listed and shown to auser scheduling a video conference. The video conference user'savailability may still be individually shown and available to a systemadministrator on administration console 308.

According to another aspect, a dashboard 604 may be provided dedicatedto informing a user of the availability of real-time video conferencing.The dashboard may have two or more indicators providing information onwhether capacity is currently available for a real-time videoconference. For example, an indicator 610 may notify the user thatcapacity is available for a real-time video conference. Anotherindicator 612 may be used to show that there is currently no capacityavailable for a real-time video conference. If capacity is available fora real-time video conference, a user may select a “SCHEDULE VIDEOCONFERENCE” button 614 on the dashboard 604 to directly request areal-time video conference. The button 614 may be greyed out anddisabled when there is no real-time video conference capacity available.Selecting the button 614 may prompt the user for other users to add asparticipants in the video conference from a list and/or by entry of theemail addresses of other users. In another aspect, selecting the button614 may directly reserve bandwidth for a real-time video conference forthe user. Master video controller 306 may update availability of thereal-time conference dashboard as described with respect to FIG. 5B.

Various aspects described herein may be embodied as a method, anapparatus, or as one or more computer-readable media storingcomputer-executable instructions. Accordingly, those aspects may takethe form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely softwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects.Any and/or all of the method steps described herein may be embodied incomputer-executable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium,such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. Additionally oralternatively, any and/or all of the method steps described herein maybe embodied in computer-readable instructions stored in the memory of anapparatus that includes one or more processors, such that the apparatusis caused to perform such method steps when the one or more processorsexecute the computer-readable instructions. In addition, various signalsrepresenting data or events as described herein may be transferredbetween a source and a destination in the form of light and/orelectromagnetic waves traveling through signal-conducting media such asmetal wires, optical fibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g.,air and/or space).

Aspects of the disclosure have been described in terms of illustrativeembodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications, andvariations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occurto persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of thisdisclosure. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the steps illustrated in the illustrative figures may beperformed in other than the recited order, and that one or more stepsillustrated may be optional in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure. Further, one or more aspects described with respect to onefigure or arrangement may be used in conjunction with other aspectsassociated with another figure or portion of the description.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by a firstcomputing device, an availability recommendation for a plurality of timeperiods for a communication event based on scheduled communicationevents of other users and bandwidth usage of the other users; receiving,from a second computing device, a request to initiate scheduling of acommunication event between a first user of the second computing deviceand a second user; transmitting, to the second computing device, theavailability recommendation of the plurality of time periods in responseto the request; receiving, from the second computing device, a requestto schedule a communication event between the first user and the seconduser based on the availability recommendation, the request comprisingcommunication event information; determining, by the first computingdevice, whether to approve scheduling of the communication event betweenthe first user and the second user based on the communication eventinformation and the scheduled communication events of other users, thedetermining whether to approve scheduling of the communication eventincluding determining whether communication events are enabled; inresponse to determining to approve scheduling of the communication eventbased on the communication event information: determining a time periodfor the communication event and a customer category of at least one userassociated with the communication event; based on the determined timeperiod and customer category, determining a minimum video quality forthe communication event; and providing, to the second computing device,an indication that scheduling of the communication event with thedetermined video quality is approved.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe communication event comprises a video conference between the firstuser and the second user.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the requestcomprises a request to schedule a communication event at a future time,and wherein determining whether to approve scheduling of thecommunication event further includes: determining, by the firstcomputing device, whether to approve scheduling of the communicationevent based on the communication event information, predicted networkconditions, and scheduled communication events of other users.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a request to schedule areal-time communication event, and wherein determining whether toapprove scheduling of the communication event further includes:determining, by the first computing device, whether to approvescheduling of the communication event at a current time based onreal-time network conditions.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereindetermining whether to approve scheduling of the communication event atthe current time further includes determining whether to approvescheduling of the communication event at the current time based on oneor more currently active communication events, the real-time networkconditions, and scheduled communication events starting within apredetermined time window from the current time.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein determining the availability recommendation comprises: foreach time period of the plurality of time periods, determining, by thefirst computing device, the availability recommendation of the timeperiod for a communication event based on at least one of a number ofscheduled communication events during a same time period, presence of amaintenance block, and estimated bandwidth usage of scheduledcommunication events during the same time period.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the first user is at a first location, and wherein thescheduled communication events of other users comprise scheduledcommunication events of other users at the first location.
 8. The methodof claim 7, wherein determining whether to approve scheduling of thecommunication event between the first user and the second user furtherincludes: determining whether to approve scheduling of the communicationevent between the first user and the second user based on thecommunication event information, the scheduled communication events ofother users, and network conditions of a network at the first location.9. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and a memorystoring computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the atleast one processor, cause the apparatus to: receive an input from auser of the apparatus requesting to view an availability recommendationof a plurality of time periods for a communication event based onscheduled communication events of other users and bandwidth usage of theother users; transmit, to a second apparatus, a request to initiatescheduling of a communication event between the user and a second userremote from the apparatus; receive, from the second apparatus, theavailability recommendation of the plurality of time periods in responseto the request; present, on a display device, the availabilityrecommendation of the plurality of time periods in a schedule format;receive a second input from the user indicating a selection of at leastone first time period of the plurality of time periods for schedulingthe communication event; in response to receiving the second input,transmit a request, to the second apparatus, to schedule a communicationevent between the user and the second user; determine, by the secondapparatus, whether to approve scheduling the communication event betweenthe user and the second user, determining whether to approve schedulingthe communication event including determining whether communicationevents are enabled; in response to determining to approve scheduling thecommunication event: determine a time period for the communication eventand a customer category of at least one user associated with thecommunication event; based on the determined time period and customercategory, determine a minimum video quality for the communication event;and receive, from the second apparatus, an indication that scheduling ofthe communication event with the determined video quality is approved.10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second input comprisescommunication event information.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, whereinthe communication event information comprises a proposed start time andend time for the communication event.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the memory further stores computer-readable instructions that,when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:receive real-time communication event availability information; andpresent the real-time communication event availability information tothe user.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the real-timecommunication event availability information indicates that capacity isavailable for a real-time communication event, and wherein present thereal-time communication event availability information to the usercomprises: present, to the user, an available capacity indicator on acommunication event dashboard.
 14. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media having computer-executable instructions storedthereon that, when executed, cause at least one computing device to:determine, by a first computing device, an availability recommendationfor a plurality of time periods for a communication event based onscheduled communication events of other users and bandwidth usage of theother users; receive, from a second computing device, a request toinitiate scheduling of a communication event between a first user of thesecond computing device and a second user; transmit, to the secondcomputing device, the availability recommendation of the plurality oftime periods in response to the request; receive, from the secondcomputing device, a request to schedule a communication event betweenthe first user and the second user based on the availabilityrecommendation, the request comprising communication event information;determine, by the first computing device, whether to approve schedulingof the communication event between the first user and the second userbased on the communication event information and the scheduledcommunication events of other users, the determining whether to approvescheduling of the communication event including determining whethercommunication events are enabled; in response to determining toapproving scheduling of the communication event based on thecommunication event information; determine a time period for thecommunication event and a customer category of at least one userassociated with the communication event; based on the determined timeperiod and customer category, determine a minimum video quality for thecommunication event; and provide, to the second computing device, anindication that scheduling of the communication event with thedetermined video quality is approved.
 15. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the communication eventcomprises a video conference between the first user and the second user.16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14,wherein the request comprises a request to schedule a communicationevent at a future time, and wherein determine whether to approvescheduling of the communication event further includes: determine, bythe first computing device, whether to approve scheduling of thecommunication event based on the communication event information,predicted network conditions, and scheduled communication events ofother users.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediaof claim 14, wherein the request comprises a request to schedule areal-time communication event, and wherein determine whether to approvescheduling of the communication event further includes: determine, bythe first computing device, whether to approve scheduling of thecommunication event at a current time based on one or more currentlyactive communication events and real-time network conditions.
 18. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, whereindetermine whether to approve scheduling of the communication event atthe current time further includes determining whether to approvescheduling of the communication event at the current time based on theone or more currently active communication events, real-time networkconditions, and scheduled communication events starting within apredetermined time window from the current time.
 19. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein determinethe availability recommendation comprises: for each time period of theplurality of time periods, determining, by the first computing device,the availability recommendation of the time period for a communicationevent based on at least one of a number of scheduled communicationevents during a same time period, presence of a maintenance block, andestimated bandwidth usage of scheduled communication events during thesame time period.
 20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 14, wherein the first user is at a first location, andwherein the scheduled communication events of other users comprisescheduled communication events of other users at the first location.